Tuesday Tangents: The Defenders
Jun. 3rd, 2008 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lurkerwithoutThe 1930s were a dark time. The Great Depression referred not just to the financial crash, but to the general state of mind of so many who struggled with poverty. And that mental state was like a fine buffet for various super-natural predators...
It was also a time of rampant criminal activity in the USA. With the massive profits ensured by Prohibition, the various Crime Syndicates were almost legitimate in their control of politics and police. Across the nation, various masked Mystery Men did their best to oppose gangsters and protect the innocent...
In 1931 an obscure Mystery Man in Detroit named the Vision assembled a group of others from around the country. He convinced them of two things. That he'd chosen his name because he had "waking dreams" that would foretell when super-natural attacks would occur. And that even more dangerous than the criminals were these "demonic" beings drawn to feed off humanity's despair and evil. In all the Vision recruited five heroes to be part of The Defenders from across the country.
Their first mission, to stop an invasion of "shadow demons" at a Masquerade Ball thrown by New York's highest society, was a partial success. The demons were driven off but one of the guests, nineteen year old socialite Patsy Walker was killed. Or so it seemed. A few weeks later the Vision, now revealed to his allies as millionaire industrialist and philanthropist Kyle Richmond, discovered that Ms. Walker had partially survived. Trapped between life and death she would fade from visibility and tangibility depending on the hour of the day. Calling herself the Shroud she joined the group, using her unique state to help protect humanity...
It was also a time of rampant criminal activity in the USA. With the massive profits ensured by Prohibition, the various Crime Syndicates were almost legitimate in their control of politics and police. Across the nation, various masked Mystery Men did their best to oppose gangsters and protect the innocent...
In 1931 an obscure Mystery Man in Detroit named the Vision assembled a group of others from around the country. He convinced them of two things. That he'd chosen his name because he had "waking dreams" that would foretell when super-natural attacks would occur. And that even more dangerous than the criminals were these "demonic" beings drawn to feed off humanity's despair and evil. In all the Vision recruited five heroes to be part of The Defenders from across the country.
- From Texas the brothers Javier and Alejandro Montayo - Los Lobos Hermanos
- From the East Coast former British lord and explorer Kevin R. Plunder - The Hobgoblin
- From New York Wyatt Wingfoot, who claimed to be the great grand-son of the god Hermes. And whose gifts of flight and speed seemed to back that assertion - Quicksilver
- And from the Southwest, the black hero Sam Wilson - The Scorpion.
Their first mission, to stop an invasion of "shadow demons" at a Masquerade Ball thrown by New York's highest society, was a partial success. The demons were driven off but one of the guests, nineteen year old socialite Patsy Walker was killed. Or so it seemed. A few weeks later the Vision, now revealed to his allies as millionaire industrialist and philanthropist Kyle Richmond, discovered that Ms. Walker had partially survived. Trapped between life and death she would fade from visibility and tangibility depending on the hour of the day. Calling herself the Shroud she joined the group, using her unique state to help protect humanity...
